Euro 2008: Disjointed Portugal fall to another defeat

Portugal 1-2 Greece

Portugal continued their poor recent form as they were well beaten by their Euro 2004 nemesis Greece in a friendly match played in Dusseldorf, Germany last night.

The Greek’s superiority throughout was translated into two masterfully executed free-kicks from former Benfica midfielder Karagounis. Nuno Gomes hit a late consolation for Portugal.

Although Portugal were without the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Bosingwa and Maniche, a host of second-string players missed the opportunity to push for a place in the starting line-up, with Joao Moutinho’s display the one positive note in another dispiriting performance.

Luiz Felipe Scolari faces perhaps his biggest challenge yet since taking over as Portugal coach in 2003. After a stuttering qualification campaign to reach this summer’s European Championships, and coming off very much second best in preparation matches against Italy and Greece, the Brazilian is running out of time to mould one of Portugal’s most talented ever squads into something resembling a cohesive team.

Most worrying for Portugal fans, unlike the run-ups to the previous two tournaments, Scolari appears far from having defined a system, the supporting cast or even the main protagonists of his team.

Striker weakness

The perennial striker problem remains a big weakness of the team. There is little to choose between Hugo Almeida, Nuno Gomes, Makukula or Helder Postiga, the only certainty being none of this quartet is a guarantee of goals.

Quaresma continues to be an enigma, seldom producing his often breathtaking play for FC Porto when in a Portugal shirt. The central midfield positions are anyone’s guess, although Deco would appear to be in the box seat despite his indifferent season at Barcelona and Moutinho did his chances no harm yesterday with a typically energetic and intelligent display.

As for the other candidates, the tournament has probably come too early for Miguel Veloso, Maniche appears past his best, Meira, who played as a deep-lying midfielder early in his career, has spent years playing at centre-back and it shows, Martins missed a chance to impress yesterday, while Scolari has shown little trust in Raul Meireles.

Left-back is also a problem position for Portugal. Marco Caneira is useful pushing forward but is often exposed at this level in carrying out his defensive duties.

Karagounis magic

As for the match itself, a dominant Greece completely dictated matters for the first 75 minutes. Karagounis, who never had the chance to take free-kicks in his Benfica days as Simao took all set-pieces, showed what a fine exponent he is in such situations.

Two fouls a few metres outside the penalty box, two marvellous right-foot shots curled over the wall and into the corner of Ricardo’s net.

On 75 minutes, Portugal, who had not troubled Greek goalkeeper Nikopolidis once up until then, got themselves back into the match with their best move of the match. Moutinho released Miguel on the right flank, whose centre was headed back across goal by Almeida where Nuno Gomes slid in for a fine opportunist strike.

The exact same move almost got Portugal level ten minutes later, with Gomes claiming he had been pushed as he attempted to get on the end of another Almeida knock-down. However, had Portugal grabbed an equaliser it would have been a scarcely deserved draw.

Portugal:
Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Caneira, Fernando Meira, Carlos Martins, Miguel Veloso, Ricardo Quaresma, Simao, Nuno Gomes
Playing substitutes: Joao Moutinho, Bruno Alves, Miguel, Hugo Almeida, Jorge Ribeiro, Raul Meireles
Yellow Cards: Pepe, Joao Moutinho

Greece:
Nikopolidis, Patzatzoglou, Antzas, Kyrgiakos, Torosidis, Basinas, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Amanatidis, Charisteas, Gekas
Playing substitutes: Giannakopoulos, Seitaridis, Samaras, Goumas, Salpingidis
Yellow Cards: Charisteas, Patzatzouglou, Basinas, Ginnakopoulos

Goals:
[0-1] Karagounis, 32
[0-2] Karagounis, 59
[1-2] Nuno Gomes, 75